Justice for some: Comparative miscarriages of justice – Kent Roach

Note: Speaker is on ZOOM

Speaker: Kent Roach, C.M., F.R.S.C. is Professor of Law at the University of Toronto. He has been the editor in chief of the Criminal Law Quarterly since 1998. He is a co-founder of the Canadian Registry of Wrongful Convictions www.wrongfulconvictions.ca. He has written widely and appeared as a barrister before the Supreme Court of Canada in over ten cases. His talk will be based on his 18th book Justice for Some: Comparative Miscarriages of Justice and Wrongful Convictions to be published by Cambridge University Press later this year.

The differing concepts of miscarriages of justice, wrongful convictions and innocence will be discussed with an emphasis on differences between the England and the United States. England’s focus on miscarriage of justice and the remedial institutions of the Court of Appeal and the Criminal Cases Review Commission will be compared with the United States’ narrower focus on proven factual innocence for post-conviction relief and compensation.  At the same time, inability of the English system to respond to the Post Office scandal and other recent failures such as the Victor Nealon and Andrew Malkinson case will be discussed as will the remedial legislation that overturns the Post Office convictions. Recommendations about reforming the CCRC will be discussed in light of new Canadian and New Zealand legislation creating similar institutions. The issue of compensation for miscarriages of justice will also be discussed.

This is the fifth of our International Canadian Zoom lectures

Event information